EBM takes stock

Police violence: hundreds of cases in just one year

The investigation unit was originally introduced by the black-green government to help victims and restore trust in the executive.

(Bild: P. Huber)

In its first year, the newly established Investigation and Complaints Office against Allegations of Maltreatment (EBM) has dealt with over 500 cases of alleged police violence. The chairman of the advisory board is calling for more staff and better cooperation with public prosecutors. Charges were brought in two cases.  

Over 500 cases of suspected police violence were filed in the first year by the new Investigation and Complaints Office for Allegations of Maltreatment (EBM), which is part of the Federal Bureau of Anti-Corruption (BAK). The majority of these - almost 400 - have already been brought to a judicial conclusion. Charges were brought in two cases and one further case was settled by diversion, as the Ministry of the Interior announced in a summary on Monday.

187 cases discontinued
505 proceedings concerned allegations of ill-treatment, in nine cases police use of weapons was investigated, which was associated with danger to life or death. 392 proceedings were settled under criminal law: 187 proceedings were discontinued by the public prosecutor's offices, in 202 cases no investigation was initiated, although these cases were reported to the Austrian Ombudsman Board, as Meinrad Handstanger, Chairman of the independent EBM Advisory Board, emphasized on Monday.

EBM Advisory Board: No written instructions
In order to ensure that the new investigative body can investigate independently, the advisory board was set up to exercise "structural control", as Handstanger explained: "It's about quality assurance." As far as independence is concerned, "I have no knowledge that there were any written instructions." The EBM can "claim that investigations are carried out quickly, reliably and objectively." The high number of reported cases shows "that the institution is accepted and enjoys trust. That is in the interests of all involved."

The unit is being set up. It is doing well and fulfilling its tasks. But it will probably have to be expanded.

Meinrad Handstanger, Vorsitzender des unabhängigen EBM-Beitrats

Handstanger also suggested increasing the number of staff at EBM, which currently has 38 employees, including a human rights expert and a psychologist, in order to ensure interdisciplinary and multi-professional expertise. Instead of the expected 300 cases, significantly more allegations were reported to the EBM in the first year.

Cooperation with public prosecutor's offices "capable of expansion"
The Chairman of the Advisory Board also advocated improved documentation of detentions in police custody - for example in detention centers: "These cases of deprivation of liberty take place outside the public eye, which is why a lack of transparency must be prevented." Handstanger can therefore imagine video recordings in which police officers equipped with bodycams also use them. Handstanger hopes that this will have a "de-escalating effect on both sides."

EBM Advisory Board Chairman Handstanger would like to see more staff, video recordings in detention centers and feedback from public prosecutors.

(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

The Chairman of the Advisory Board believes that communication and cooperation with the public prosecutor's offices could be "improved". The EBM reports every suspected case to the responsible prosecuting authority, but is often not sufficiently informed about the reasons why investigations are discontinued or charges are dropped. "More feedback would be desirable here." 80 percent of the cases in the first year were in the Vienna public prosecutor's office, which is why Handstanger believes it would be beneficial to create "a separate subgroup at the local public prosecutor's office specializing in suspected police assaults."

Amnesty International calls for mandatory identification
The human rights organization Amnesty International was generally satisfied with the EBM. "The high number of cases examined shows that the office is needed. But it also shows that this office needs more staff," stated Shoura Hashemi, Managing Director of Amnesty International Austria. Hashemi explained that it is "a good sign for the police that people have the courage to approach this office and assume that their allegations will be pursued." The EBM is not an "interrogation office", as some law enforcement officers might initially see it, but rather a kind of clearing house for police officers who may have been wrongly accused: "It contributes to external transparency and the internal perception that allegations are being properly investigated by a professional investigative body."

Before the EBM was introduced, many cases were simply not reported because there were no independent investigations and those affected lacked confidence in effective investigations, Hashemi suspected. However, Amnesty continues to see the fact that the office is based in the Ministry of the Interior as a point of criticism. This gives the current Minister of the Interior a theoretical authority to issue directives.

Amnesty is calling on the next federal government to introduce an anonymized but individually identifiable identification requirement for police officers. Currently, the lack of an identification requirement means that investigated cases of police violence are often not verifiable, "and not that they are not tenable", as Hashemi noted. Mandatory identification is therefore "not a hostile demand, but a contribution to creating more trust in the police", said the Amnesty Executive Director. Internationally, mandatory identification has long been "recognized as a human rights standard" and has been implemented in most countries in Europe.

Ministry of the Interior denies "biased results"
Meanwhile, the Ministry of the Interior countered critics on Monday who had feared in advance that the EBM's investigations would produce "biased results". This has now been "demonstrably refuted by the findings of an independent and neutral body", it said in a press release. "The new body also comes to the conclusion that the majority of allegations of mistreatment cannot be substantiated or proven."

In the past, parts of the political opposition and NGOs had objected to the fact that the EBM was located in the BAK and thus in the department of the Ministry of the Interior. "The investigators of the Investigation and Complaints Office for Allegations of Maltreatment will continue to carry out their work neutrally and independently, collect both incriminating and exonerating evidence in cases of allegations of mistreatment against the police and thus make a significant contribution to the rule of law in police actions," the Ministry of the Interior countered.